This invention relates to food products and more particularly to the coloring of such food products to obtain a meaty-red color.
Food colorant agents for meats, whether they be for human or pet foods, are generally formulated to give the appearance of real meat in both color and texture. Use of the pigments produced by the growth of the mold Monascus purpureus on material selected from rice and corn has been taught for use as food coloring when added to food products by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,911,141, 4,031,250, and 4,145,254 and others. Such treated rice or corn is generally subdivided and used per se as the coloring material. The corn or rice thereby serves both as a nutrient source as well as a colorant in the food.
To date there have been no teachings that molds of the genus Monascus, such as Monascus purpureus and Monascus anker could be successfully cultivated on either wheat or barley substrates and thereby take advantage of such grains' excellent, nutritive and other helpful qualities. In addition, it is known that whole grain wheat or barley will not uniformly or efficiently support the growth of molds of the genus Monascus in known mediums in the same manner as will other grains, such as rice and corn. As a result, there have been no published successful attempts to cultivate molds of the genus Monascus on wheat or barley, even though rice or corn have each been used successfully as substrates.